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Sold-Out Houses Across Indonesia Applaud Themes Of Nationalism, Unity, Sacrifice and Heroism First Film of "Merdeka Trilogy" Makes History : One of Indonesia's Biggest Film Openings

Audience Response, Word Of Mouth Is "Best Ever, fFilm Industry Experts Say As Weekday Audiences Following Kemerdekaan Weekend Grow Even Bigger.

Jakarta, August 20th 2009 – With one of the strongest opening weeks in Indonesian film history, MERAH PUTIH, the country's first big Hollywood-blockbuster-style war drama in decades, drew more than 400,000 movie-goers seeing the film since its release on Thursday, August 13th -- the biggest opening weekend ever for a war drama or historical period piece in the history of Indonesia.

'Audience response has been amazing,' said MERAH PUTIH Executive Producer Rob Allyn. 'We knew we had a quality film to share with Indonesian audiences, combining action, drama, romance, humor and tragedy into an historically authentic story with important themes of nationalism, unity and heroic self-sacrifice. But we did not expect such a huge turnout on our first weekend, especially as this is a serious historical war drama that doesn't fit the traditional molds of popular genre films here in Indonesia. We hoped that our film would be entertaining and appealing, but we could never have dreamed that positive audience reaction and favorable word of mouth would be so strong that our weekday totals on this Tuesday and Wednesday would be even higher than the daily totals from Kemerdekaan weekend."

"This is great news for MERAH PUTIH and the Merdeka Trilogy, but more importantly, it is great news for Indonesia and the local film industry," Allyn added. "Thanks to the wonderful direction of Yadi Sugandi and this fantastic cast of actors trained by the most brilliant film-makers of Indonesia, clearly our picture has 'legs' and is on course to be one of the most successful films in Indonesian history."

Cinema 21

JAKARTA
- Plaza Indonesia
- Plaza Senayan
- Hollywood KC
- Setiabudi Bldg
- Pluit Village
- Puri Mall
- Pondok Indah Mall 1
- Senayan City
- Cilandak Town Square
- TIM
- Metropole
- Mall Kelapa Gading
- Artha Gading

BOGOR
- Bogor Botani

TANGERANG
- Serpong HI
- Karawaci

BANDUNG
- BSM
- Empire
- BTC
- Braga


Blitzmegaplex

JAKARTA
- Grand Indonesia
- Mall of Indonesia

TANGERANG
- Blitz Teraskota (BSD)

BANDUNG
- Blitz Paris Van Java (Bandung)

MERAH PUTIH
“TO BECOME FREE, THEY BECAME ONE”
HOLLYWOOD-STYLE WAR DRAMA REMINDS INDONESIA
OF THE UNITY, SACRIFICE AND NATIONALISM OF OUR FOREFATHERS
FILM SEEKS TO HELP EDUCATE THE YOUNG, RENEW THE NATIONAL SPIRIT
AND BOOST INDONESIA’S IMAGE ABROAD

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